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F. A. BUTLER.`

FABRlp.

APPLICATION FVILED \MAR. 16. 1916.

l ,3 l 5,1 79 i l Patented Sept. 2, 1919.

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UNITED-4 sTATEs iPATENT oEEioE.

rEneUs A. BUTLER., or DAN-vens, MASSACHUSETTS.

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Specification of Letters Ilatent.

Patented Sept. 2, 1919.

4Alglplieaticn led March 16, 1916. SeriaINo. 84,699.

To all lwhom t may concern:`

Be it known that I, FERGUs A. BUTLER, a citizen of-the United States,residing at Danvers, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts,have invented certain Improvements in Fabrics, of which the followingdescription, in connection with the ac` companying drawings, is aspecification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating likeparts in the severaLigures.4

This invention relates to garments, blankets, robes, and similararticles of apparel designed to protect the wearer or user from cold andto a novel material from which to make articles of this character. Thein vention has for its object to devise an article of this character anda material for use in such articles which will be relatively light inweight and yet shall possess unusual heat insulating properties. It isproposed toutilize the heat insulating properties of air in attainingthis object and to make provision for preventing Ya suflicientcirculation of the air so used to reduce materiallyI its insulatinproperties.

'he invention will be Areadily understood from the following descriptionof one em' bodiment thereof, reference being made to the accompanyingdrawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a garment made inaccordance with this invention, and

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the fabric from which the garmentshown in Fig.y

l is made.

Referring particularly to Fig. 2 it will be seen that the fabric fromwhich the garment is made'consists of an outercovering 2 and a lining 4with several layers of material between the covering and lining. Theselayers consist of .sheets 6 of air retaining'materialv of someconvenient character alternating with sheets 8 of material substantiallyimpervious to the passage of air. It isobvious that the exact materialsused will vary with l article is to be put. I

prevent any material interchange of air in the'spaces between adjacentsheets. It is obvious that a free interchange of air in these spaceswould totally defeat the ob- ]ect 1n view. For this material av largevariety of substances may be used. For many purposes some of the toughgrades of paperv on the market are satisfactory; andwhere the article istoA be put to very severe service some of the animal tissues, such assheepl skin or sheets of the cu-red intestines of animals maybe used. Athin grade of sheet rubber of good quality which does not .harden whensubjected to low temperatures also may be used.

The sheets of material 6 that separate the sheets 8 may also vary widelyin character.

The primary purpose Tof this material is to i separate the sheets 8 soas to maintain ,an air space at all times between any two adjacent-sheets of the relatively impervious material. Any one of a largevariety of woven or knitted fabrics made either of cotton or wool willanswer for this purpose,

although wool is usually preferable because it is afbetter heatinsulator and the Wool fibers do not mat together as do cotton fibers.Cotton, however, is satisfactory for many purposes; and either of these'materials will retain suliicientair to-form Agood heat insulators. It isobvious that the par-z ticular kind of heat' insulating and impervi-'ou's material used in any article will have to be determined by thedemands of theservice required from that article. The number depend alsoupon the purposes to which the paper is used for the imperviousmaterial, the air retaining fabric used with it will be depended uponfor mechanical strength and the sheets 6 and S and thickness of the airspaces provided will should be sewed together at suitable intervals,'.asindicated at 9, Fig. 1, a strip of tape 10 being used on the sideof eachpaper sheet 8 opposite thefabric 6 to receive the stitches and preventthem from cutting through the paper. Preferably also the paper iscrinkled in order to make it more pliableand to reduce the strain on thepaper where it is stitched and thus prevent it from tearing.

In the` manufacture of robes, blankets, and

similar coverings it may be Adesirable to sew together, or unite by someother means, all the sheets 6 and- 8- between the lining and the-outercovering and to secure them to the lining and covering in such a manneras by buttons and buttonholes, so that they can readily lbe removed,thus permitting the washing of the sheets 2 and 4 which are exposed towear and arevery likely lto become stance, as gabardine, although themore common fabrics used for these 'purposes may also be employed here.It wi l be unnecessary, however, to use as heavy a fabric as thatordinarily employed because the warmth of the article will not dependprimarily upon this outer fabric, as in articles of apparelconstructed-in accordance with more common methods, butrather upon thematerials between this outer covering and the lining and the number andthickness 'of the air spaces so provided. For many articles one of thesheets 6 or 8'probably 'will form the lining of the'outer covering. Forinstance, in making vests, the materials naturally selected for thesheets 6 or 8 would be suitable also for the lining or for the outercov- It is obvious that the exact materials used l for the several partsof a fabric made up in the manner abovedescribed can not be specifiedexactly because they must be selected, as above stated in accordancewith the requirements of the service to' which the article is to be put.Accordingly, it will readily be appreciated that the invention is notlimited to the use of any specic materials, but

.ters Patent of the United States is:

1. A pliable fabric from which to manufacture garments, blankets and thelike, comprising a series of liable parallel sheets of materialsubstantial y impervious to the passage of air, a sheet of air retainingmaterial between each two of the adjacent sheets ol' said imperviousmaterial, and a separate uniting agent securing all of said sheetstogether.

2. A pliable fabric from which to manufacture garments, blankets and thelike, comprising a series of pliable parallel sheets of materialsubstantially -impervious to the passage of air, a sheet of airretaining matcrial between each two of the adjacent sheets of saidimpervious material, and additional means for uniting all of said sheetstogether at intervals.

3. A pliable fabric from which to manufacture garments, blankets and thelike, having an outer covering, a lining, a series of pliable parallelsheets of material substantially impervious to the passage of air, asheet of air retaining material between each two ofthe adjacent sheetsof said limpervious material, and means additional to said sheets forsecuring said sheets of impervious matcrial and air retaining materialtogether.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

FERGUS A. BUTLER.

